@AZ0830 picking a lower stat component would give me an inferior model of the motherboard that does not support higher speed

This is not the case as far as I know, the MB may change over time.

Sounds like you have either a MB problem. But you said you had 4*2 2133mhz, is this 4x2GB? If so then your MB was not having problems, without XMP of course.

These MB are a bit sensitive, I had 2x16GB 3200Mhz C16 Corsair Vengeance PRO RGB, worked fine.

Thanks for helping! Sorry about the confusion. It was a set of 4GB*2 originally came with the system. I think it probably has something to do with my motherboard then. I might have gotten a faulty MB

You know better than me @r72019, anyway my R8 came with 1x8GB stick, not 2x4GB

Try updating BIOs.

Are you sure it's an R8? 

Dell did not sell the Aurora R8 stock with 2133 RAM and I'm like 99% sure it wasn't sold with 4GB sticks either.

Ok thanks! I will try that now. I do not remember exactly what I got; I just chose the cheapest option on RAM.

@r72019  I updated to the latest BIOS version, but the problem still persists.   Are there any other suggestions? Many thanks.

I had to read this several times, because it was difficult to follow.

I think what you are saying is "Corsair dominator 16gbx2 3200mhz RAM or Crucial Ballistix 16gbx2 3200mhz".

What I get from that is that you are mixing  2 x Corsair with 2 x Crucial to get 4 x 16 Gb of memory?

Or are you just trying to get dual channel 2 x 16 and neither kit work in dual channel, just single?

For dual channel you should populate slot 2 and 4.

If that is the case, how did you determine they are in single instead of dual channel mode?

Can you flip over to the memory tab instead of the SPD tab under CPU-Z, to see if they are dual or single channel mode?

Should be automatic but:

2 matched identical sticks in the same color tab = dual channel.

1 stick, or 2 sticks in different colors = running in single channel.

"anyway my R8 came with 1x8GB stick, not 2x4GB"

Yeah, they've been steam rolling through new model numbers of late.  This time two years ago the R8 was brand new and they were clearancing off existing R7 stock. Lot of people hear R8 and think ohh thats a low number it must be really old.  But R7/8/9 are all the same z370 gen, R11/12 is the next z490 gen, and R10 is a lateral AMD counterpart. 

@AZ0830 I would moreso think that you have incompatible XMP RAM for the R8 z370 MB. 

If you are trying to put all 4 in, they must use the same XMP profile as only one is possible for all memory on the system (bios setting).

If you cannot get XMP to run a single 3200Mhz pair in the right slots testing each channel, but the memory works a a single stick (16GB) in each of the 4 channels albeit single speed, test with and without XMP. If you have errors, then I would say it is most likely incompatible XMP memory.

@r72019 or @Vanadiel do you know of R8 owners that have had these memory sticks working?

I do not know much about the R8's ram compatibility.

I am not sure what memory frequencies the R8 officially supports. It looks like 3200 Mhz is supported, but at 1.25 volts and not the more common 1.35 volts.

- I would try a dual channel kit in slot 2 and 4, and go into the bios and load the bios defaults.

- I would check to see the reported memory speed in the bios.

- I would verify it is at the correct voltage for the memory kit used.

If that all works out it should work fine, unless the board has issues handling the voltage at that frequency, or it does not like the memory in general.

Alienware motherboards do not have a large QVL list for memory, and they are typically picky when it comes to memory modules and configurations.

I am pretty sure my 3200 memory was at 1.35v in my R8, but well that was then

Yes, the RAM works perfectly fine in a single-channel setup; XMP works, and voltage&speed are normal. The problem only happens when I try to put them in a dual-channel setup.It just seems that my system is not happy with running dual-channel with the RAMs I have. 

@Vanadiel Sorry about all the confusion.

I have four slots on my MB. Slot #1 and #3 are black, slot #2 and #4 are white.

If I put two of my sticks from the same set in #1 and #3, or #2 and #4, I would get a RAM failure (4 times flashes).

For now, my RAM only works if I put them in #1#2 or #3#4 positions. In that case, I would get 32GB of RAM and XMP would work and the voltage is 1.35V Speed is 3200Mhz, but they are in single-channel since they are in different color slots. 

Basically, if I try to put them in a dual-channel setup, the system just flashes 4 times indicating RAM failure.

Thanks for the help!